Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Home Again, Home Again Jiggity Jog!

A couple weeks ago I made the brave venture to my home state of Missouri. It was brave only because it involved me traveling with a one and two year old BY MYSELF on a plane for 2 1/2 hours. I know people who have done more. But this was my Everest. Let's just say... I survived.

Barely.

Well, the trip TO Kansas City was the WORST I've ever experienced with kids thus far. I opted to give Liam Benadryl, as authorized by my pediatrician. I had given it to him a few days prior as a dry run and he seemed to sleep much longer during his nap. So it seemed like a good idea.

Famous last words!

Liam doesn't ever get rocked to sleep or held to lull him to bed so he's pretty used to being left alone and stretching out in his crib. Since he couldn't do this on the plane we had one unhappy baby on our hands. He kicked and screamed and screamed some more. (Imagine that ear piercing scream that makes you want to hit the snooze button really hard)

Let's just say that I didn't have many friends on the flight.

The lady in front of his car seat (with seat reclined) turned around and asked if I could get him to stop kicking her seat. Oh yes, let me just ask a 1 year old to please stop having a meltdown and refrain from bothering others around him! Why hadn't I thought of that??? Maybe if your seat wasn't reclined he wouldn't be able to reach it to kick it? She claimed later that her seat was broken. Perhaps it was. It would have fit nicely with the kind of trip I was having so far.

Toward the end of our flight Natalie informed me that she needed to use the bathroom very urgently. I acquiesced and carted her and her slobbering, cranky brother up to the front and asked the flight attendant if she'd hold Liam while I took Natalie to the potty. The attendant looked less than thrilled to hold a wet, sticky one year old with graham cracker all over his shirt, but she agreed. The look she shot me when I retrieved Liam from her and commented that they should offer a babysitting service was priceless. Let's just say that she's good on birth control for another 5 years.

I arrived in Kansas City only to discover that the airline had lost my bag (on a DIRECT flight). The belts in Baltimore were broken when we left so it would appear that my bag never made it on the plane. LOVELY. The airline rep was less than helpful and I left the airport thoroughly annoyed.

The kids played with Nana and Papa's array of fun toys (a lot of vintage stuff from when my sister and I were growing up).

Natalie got a princess dress from Nana and Papa (her favorite things are princesses these days). You'll probably see this dress again at Halloween!(Taking a break with Aunt Lib from all of the dancing she was doing in her dress)

The kids and I drove down to my hometown (Springfield, MO) to stay with my friend Miriam and spend time with my other friend Angie and their little girls. The kids got along like old friends and it was so nice seeing them play together. I know that if I lived there still the girls would all be great friends!Natalie, Addison, Reese, Jasmine

Angie, Miriam and I got a night out on the town one night sans kids. What a luxury! It reminded me of when Miriam and I were new friends and we were trying to get into the 21 and over hot spots in Springfield. It wasn't so much that we wanted to drink - it just that in a town of 125,000 people there isn't much to do and most of those places had a band or SOMETHING going on. Springfield has grown up a LOT since then with fun, swanky restaurants and cool gourmet grocery stores. We ended up hopping around to three of those restaurants in the downtown area. It was a fun opportunity to see how much has changed.Miriam and Me at KaiMiriam, Me and AngieFlaming Sushi at Kai. I wasn't sure what to expect with small town sushi, but I was actually impressed!Miriam, Angie and Me at Maria's (we also went to Flame *not pictured*)

I guess I really ate my way through Springfield (I mean, what's a vacation without food?) I also stopped at Pineapple Whip and my favorite Springfield Chinese, Lucy's.

Doing the hula at Pineapple Whip!

After getting back from Springfield I still had a few more days to hang out in Kansas City. I got together with my friend Rachel and her kids Lucy and Asher for a playdate.LucyAsher

We made pizza from scratch at home one night: Margherita (pictured), BBQ chicken with bacon, and white pizza with spinach, sausage and mushrooms. YUM!

Then my sister and I went out for tapas and gourmet ice cream (we're talking goat cheese, Thai curry, spiced chocolate, salted pretzel). So bizarre and fun!

All in all my trip to Missouri & Kansas was SO fun. The flight back was MUCH better too. Thanks to all of you who were praying for us. I was convinced I was going to arrive in a straight jacket or they were going to kick us off the plane in Ohio - but alas the screaming was kept to a minimum and we avoided a major meltdown. I'm sure we annoyed a FEW folks sitting around us with a bit more noise than they'd care for, but if they would have said anything I was all ready with "Honey, you should be thankful. This is NOTHING!"